January 4, 2023

Michigan State University to assess aquaculture in Asia

With new funding secured through a nearly US$800,000 grant from the NASA Land Cover/Land Use Change programme, researchers from Michigan State University will be working to assess aquaculture in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Using satellite imagery and survey information, researchers Lin Yan, Ben Belton and David Roy will analyse how the industry is driving land cover and land use change in aquaculture hot spots.

"Aquaculture contributes substantially to global food and nutrition security and is projected to expand further in response to demand from an increasingly populous, affluent and urbanising world," said Yan, assistant professor with the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations at MSU. "When implemented sustainably, aquaculture can contribute substantially to addressing the challenges of global food and nutrition security. Yet, for many years, poor practices have often led to significant environmental damage in areas where it is employed."

"Approximately 80% of global aquaculture production is currently taking place in Asia," said Belton, an associate professor with the MSU Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics. "Yet, it's long been assumed that much of Asian aquaculture has been implemented on a small scale. However, the size and tenure of aquaculture farms have been poorly documented. The factors that drive and mediate aquaculture change have been understudied in the past, and there are few sources of publicly available data on the boundaries of aquaculture ‘ponds,'"

"This research is of great academic interest but also has practical implications for policies affecting land use and aquaculture in key global aquaculture hot spots,"  said Roy, professor of Geography and the interim director of the CGCEO. 

- MSU Today